Leading early-stage technology investor Mercia Fund Management, has committed £500,000 of seed funding to Milkalyser, an innovative technology that predicts the fertility of cows.
In response to the decline of fertility in dairy cows worldwide, Milkalyser Limited has developed an automated fertility management system for dairy farmers. The innovative new technology directly measures the fertility hormone, progesterone, in cow’s milk and provides analytical data to predict ovulation and optimal timing for insemination.
This early-stage investment from Mercia will be used to continue developing the product so it can be brought to the commercial market. The long-term vision for the company is to build a data driven platform that allows farmers worldwide to maximise the yields from their livestock.
Managing Director Professor Toby Mottram, the inventor of the Milkalyser platform, completed an Enterprise Fellowship funded by BBSRC with the Royal Society of Edinburgh to build the business model and proof of concept, and has been involved in commercialising animal technologies for over 15 years.
Toby has a PHD in robotic milking and is also the founder of eCow Devon LTD, a company which provides rumen pH telemetry systems to farmers and scientists worldwide.
Professor Toby Mottram, MD and founder of Milkalyser, said:
“We are delighted to have Mercia as an early stage investor, this will allow us to build the Milkalyser business and technology which we know has huge global potential.”
Dr Ashish Patel, Investment Manager at Mercia Fund Management, said:
“We believe this is an excellent opportunity to invest in a potentially industrial-scale solution to a significant commercial problem in livestock agriculture.
“We are pleased to be working with Toby, who is globally recognised as an innovator in farming technology and possesses a combination of deep technical expertise in animal technologies with a commercial outlook.”